818 Words Like Hammers
The celestials and saints who had attacked were clearly apprehensive. If they went it, according to what they’d seen, it would be easy. But, would they be able to come out afterwards? What would they do if they couldn’t get down? Would they be mowed down as well?
Laura’s delicate features twisted. She didn’t care about the deaths because of the individuals, what she cared about was her face and the fact that losing two million plus warriors wasn’t something any Kingdom could sustain easily, even if they were just essence gatherers.
Many of those were third and fourth grade warriors that had a lot of potential for the future. They would definitely become saints, and if they were lucky, celestials in the future! Some might even find their own luck and become dao formation experts. To say that the entire foundation of the Moon Clan was crippled would almost be an understatement!
Laura was agitated for another reason as well. The only reason she didn’t make a fuss about Veles not bringing his army to the front line was because she wanted to take advantage of it.
She knew exactly what Veles lost, obviously, because she was watching from start to end. Although she didn’t specify how she wanted Luna to ruin their alliance, she was pleasantly surprised with the method used.
After she saw Dyon escape with it, she began to concoct a plan. In fact, she originally wanted to send experts after Dyon, however, the Viserion elders were too incompetent and allowed him to escape too early. And, because Dyon cleverly remained inside of Viserion territory throughout the time they were chasing him, Laura couldn’t risk sending experts lest he lose Veles’ favor.
The truth was that she didn’t think she needed Veles to win this war. So, after her first attempt failed, she wanted to quickly defeat the Angel Clan before Veles could find a chance to intervene, then take the tome from Dyon’s corpse before Veles could breathe a word of discontent.
With that method, the moral high-ground would have been hers. After all, why would Veles deserve spoils of war when he didn’t contribute? According to Laura’s calculations, even if Veles was as wild as she thought and decided to fight it out with her, his army was only about a million warriors deep while hers was over three million! She thought that even after fighting the Angels, she would have plenty of strength left to wipe the Viserions off the map, and she would have good reason to as well. Veles would thus lose the protection of the main Viserion branch since he stepped out of line first.
The plan should have been perfect! She would even manage to fulfill the wish of her late father by raising the Moon Clan to new heights. If she gave the Ahpuch the tome, which she had righteously won away from the Angel Clan, the Viserions wouldn’t be able to raise a word of discontent, and, even more poignant, it would be the perfect dowry for her to become Jabari’s main wife and future Empress of the Ahpuch Emperor God Clan!
But now, everything was crumbling before her.
Her supposed future husband was nearly dead and might even be crippled. She had lost the foundation of the Moon Clan her father had so painstakingly built. And now her chances of having the moral high-ground with Veles had vanished into the wind…
Laura grit her teeth, “King Viserion, you aren’t going to continue not to act, are you? I’ve now lost over two million warriors, is that not enough of a bid of sincerity?!” By the end of her words, Laura’s voice had turned shrill.
Veles nodded. He held back because he was worried that the Moon Clan would only want to use him, but now it hardly mattered. If he continued to hold back, he would be suspected.
“Elder,” Veles spoke respectfully to the dao formation expert flanking his left. Laura apparently found this weird judging by the look in her eye, it was as though she wasn’t used to Kings treating their subordinates well. In that moment, inner turmoil ravaged her thoughts before it disappeared, replaced by complacency. “I’ll have to ask you to test the power of the barrier.”
The elder nodded, flashing forward until he was just outside the range of the outer most dome. Before he could act, numerous shadows appeared in the distance, carrying with them a blood thirsty and savage aura that could only be matched with the Viserion army. Soon, an army of nearly a million appeared over the mountain, marching in sync.
Dyon chuckled when he saw this. Clearly, Veles took inspiration from their talk, learning how to organize his own armies. However, Dyon didn’t mind. Copying him was one thing, whether he could deploy his strategy appropriately was an entirely different matter.
The Viserion elder erupted into his second battle form, corresponding with the 6th stage of the Dragon Refining Arts. Or, more accurately, the peak of the second act. But, before he could attack, Dyon suddenly spoke.
“The Viserion Clan is truly an odd one.” He said lightly.
Veles furrowed his eyebrows, even the elder stopped midway. They had just suffered a major loss because they fell for Dyon’s goading, if they didn’t listen to him when he spoke this time, wouldn’t they just suffer more losses?
“There are only a few options for how your current actions could end. You could all die, the same way those canon fodder did, or you could by dumb stroke of luck manage to breach the barrier, and then you can die.” Dyon continued.
Veles’ lip twitched, “You think that just because your barrier can trap those pitiful essence gatherers that it can trap us as well?”
Dyon shrugged, “I don’t really care what you believe or not, I’d just rather not annihilate your branch clan in light of the relationship between your father and mine.
“But sure, let’s give you the benefit of the doubt. Let’s say you breach the barrier and somehow manage to kill us all, then what?” Dyon waited patiently like they weren’t currently in the middle of a battle.
“Then we would have wiped away the humiliation you’ve levied against us, what else is there?” Veles said in rage.
“Oh? So, you don’t care about the remaining 18 pages then? Considering the tome has acknowledged me and only me, the moment I die, those pages go with me. I wonder how the Viserion Clan feels about that?” Dyon said pointedly.
Veles froze. He didn’t doubt for a moment that Dyon was telling the truth. He also knew that it was impossible for Dyon to have used a fake tome when he showed him those pages. The aura of a Divine level technique could only be possible faked with the use of another divine level technique, but even then, each had its own unique aura. Veles had spent too much time with the tome to mistake its presence.
“I would unlock them myself.” Veles said stubbornly.
“Oh please.” Dyon said, waving him off. “The only thing you would have felt when you cultivated to the 9th stage was that the technique wasn’t complete, you wouldn’t have unlocked a thing. If that was the method, how would I already have access to the final 18 pages?”
Veles gritted his teeth. He was an intelligent person, how could he not have understood this already? He was simply being stubborn. It was already clear to him that Dyon had once again one-upped him.
“You should know,” Dyon said chuckling, “If they fail today, they fail period. Do you think that the main Viserion branch would allow the Ahpuch to run around so rampantly? Do you think that the little Moon Clan dares to encroach on my Angel Clan on a whim?
“The Clans backing the Ahpuch don’t even dare to send too many of their own here because they have their own problems to deal with. In fact, I just learned a few moments ago that my father is still alive and will be released within 10 years, with two decades being the upper limit, at that time, what chance do the Ahpuch have to withstand his wrath?”
Every one of Dyon’s words were like hammers slamming against the hearts of everyone present. This was especially true for the Angel Clan members who had just heard of this news. However, those elders of the Ahpuch Clan were the truly shocked ones.